Peerage Contract
| number = | used by = , }} The Peerage Contract (貴族契約, Kizoku Keiyaku; Japanese for "Court Rank Agreement") is a ritual utilized by the Masters of old, having first come about sometime during the beginning stages of in order to essentially increase their ranks. It would become a valuable tool that proved mutually beneficial. While it helped the Kidō Master to be protected by a sort of group all their own, especially among those magical scholars that either were too invested in study rather than application of their knowledge as well as those who enjoyed the idea of having servants all to their own by way of their magic, the contract would also bestow certain special conditions onto the offered individual, which would essentially strengthen their powers by some specific factor. In the last couple centuries, the peerage contract ritual has even been mimicked and adopted by the tribes as well. Overview Methods of Contract Chess Pieces Among the two most common methods of forging the peerage through the contract ritual, the Chess piece system assigns each member of the peerage with a title based off of pieces from a game of chess. Besides the King piece, which is reserved for the caster of the ritual, and the Pawn piece, which has fallen out of use, it is customary to best reflect the nature of the actual game of Chess when contracting these pieces. Therefore, besides the Queen piece, which is limited to only a single individual, each user is known to have two individuals for each of the named pieces below. * The Queen is given to the King's closest partner and often their most reliable adviser as well. In other words, their "right-hand man". In accepting the conditions of the contract, a Queen is often rewarded with a special ability all their own. The degree to which this ability can be created by its caster depends solely on the King's abilities. Greater Kidō Masters can create very broad and powerful abilities to grant their Queen, whereas lower-tier and weaker Kidō users can only gift them with a basic ability that the Queen themselves must find a way to make useful. * The Knight is given to the King's most strategical fighter. More often than not, this position is given to a swordsman, most likely to best reflect the name of the piece. The one often chosen for the position of Knight is an assassin-type of warrior. In doing so, upon accepting the peerage contract, the one designated as Knight is given heightened speed and agility by a factor of three prior to agreeing to the contract in order to better enhance their capabilities in servitude to the King. * The Bishop is given to an individual whose skills are best meant for support and healing. Often times, this is given to a fellow Kidō specialist. In accepting the contract, the designated Bishop would find their magical prowess further enhanced and capable of far greater range of influence. Their magic is gifted with a healing factor. * The Rook is given to the most physically adept and strongest warrior among the peerage. While not exclusively, it appears that there is a noticeable trend in having a specialist serve in this capacity. The contract blesses the Rook with enhanced physical strength, ideally tripling what their strength was prior to the contract. Deck of Cards Other Methods Behind the Scenes This was inspired by the Evil Pieces system used in the anime and manga series, High School DxD. According to , although not actually being capable of performing this ritual, possesses a group of his own that seems to coincidentially parallel the chess piece system of the peerage contract. In particular, would serve as the Queen, would be his Knight, would be his Rook, and would be his Bishop. This is often a parallel that is drawn whenever the engages a situation as a cohesive unit; however rare that happens to be.